


Oh the iron-y

by felentae



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Roommates, Vampires, Vegetarians & Vegans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-04-30 23:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14507499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/felentae/pseuds/felentae
Summary: Minseok's roommate is quite weird, but he's still clean and tidy, so what's to complain about?Apart from the fact that he's a vampire, I mean.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #: L92  
> Pairing: Xiuchen  
> Monster(s): Vampires  
> Rating: Teen and up  
> Warnings: Blood (minor), language  
> Word Count: 5k  
> Author's Note:  
> OMG Thank You so much for this prompt!!! As soon as I saw it, it was like love at first sight. I loved writing this so much (even if I complained for months) and I had so much fun with this concept that I might even be happy about how it turned out??? Amazing, I know.
> 
> Thank you to the mods for being patient and overall fantastic souls. I hope everyone enjoys this fic as much as I did!

Minseok decided several months ago that he was just going to ignore his roommate's weird habits, but there's so much a person can do to force themselves to look away.

It's almost November, but the city is going through the worst heat wave since early August. Climate change is a hoax, yeah, sure. Stepping outside is like walking into a frying pan, but college is college, and the campus is as full of people as ever, if not more, with couples and small groups hanging out under the trees, enjoying the shadow and the rare, occasional breeze. Everyone is in shorts and beach dresses and miniskirts and bro tanks, drinking beer and doing literally nothing because who would be able to study when your brain is slowly melting inside your skull.

Jongdae, on the other hand, is wearing long sleeves and a _fucking scarf_ as they head towards the cafeteria in the Linguistics building (decent quality and best price in campus, always worth the walk). The only thing in his outfit that fits the weather is the ridiculous wide-brimmed straw hat that he always wears when he leaves the dorms. _“I'm allergic to the sun, hyung,”_ he said once. Minseok has wondered ever since how anyone can be allergic to light but, again, he's decided it's best to ignore Jongdae eccentricities.

“Aren't you hot?”

“Of course I am,” Jongdae quips, raising his head and letting his face appear from under the brim of his hat, and dares to smirk and wink an eye at Minseok, the little shit. “Didn't notice until now, hyung?”

Minseok rolls his eyes and looks away from Jongdae's face. His skin is so white it’s almost blinding. “You know what I meant. It's like forty degrees, you're going to get a heat stroke.”

“Nah, I'm good.” Jongdae gives him one of those smiles of him, with his lips tightly pressed together and his eyes scrunching into two little lines, and lowers his head to disappear under his hat again, sticking his hands into the pockets of his jeans and effectively hiding from sunlight the last bit of exposed skin.

Minseok sighs and doesn't press the issue again. After all, Jongdae is a grown man, he should know how to manage his own life. And, to be honest, this isn't remotely the weirdest thing about his roommate.

  
  
  


Minseok is an early bird. He likes to get up early and go for a run before breakfast, start the day with that rush of adrenaline. But he doesn't have class this morning because his Quantum Mechanics professor decided that a week long vacation to New Zealand was something appropriate to do in the middle of the semester when you have a full time job and your lessons are behind schedule. So Minseok has absolutely no reason to be awake at 8 AM (he just checked his phone)

A loud drilling sound comes from the other side of the door again, and he suddenly realizes why he isn't sleeping anymore.

“Morning, hyung!” Jongdae yells over the noise of the blender as soon as Minseok steps out of his room, voice loud and cheerful as always. He's standing with his back against the door, and there is no possible explanation to how Jongdae could hear him step out of the room when the blender is making those hellish noises that probably woke up not only Minseok, but the whole floor.

“Morning.” Minseok lazily drags his feet towards the kitchenette, squinting at the wide array of fruits and vegetables on the counter. There are a few banana and mango peels scattered around the blender, but what takes Minseok's attention is the huge bag of kale leaves.

“You drink that for breakfast too?” Minseok raises his brows and stares at Jongdae. Because there's nothing wrong with kale smoothies, really. They're healthy and nutritional. But Minseok can't remember Jongdae eating anything that isn't a kale smoothie ever since they started rooming together, not even _once_.

“It's rich in iron, hyung,” he chides, as if that would explain his weird eating behaviors. “Do you want me to make one for you?”

Minseok frowns. _That isn't the issue, Jongdae, for fuck's sake._ “Whatever, yeah. Why not.”

Jongdae gives him a flashy smile — a _rare_  toothy smile at that, all white sharp teeth like a cute cartoon shark — and turns to rummage through the cabinets in search of another big glass.

Minseok can't help but smile himself. He's happy that Jongdae feels comfortable enough around him to show him his teeth. He hides them all the time, careful to not open his mouth too much when in public. Minseok never asked, but he safely assumed that Jongdae had some kind of complex and felt self-conscious about their strange shape. Minseok just thinks that his pointy teeth are cute, if he's honest with himself.

“Here, you can have this one.” Jongdae hands him his smoothie, a pint glass filled to the brim with a weird pale green substance that doesn't look tasty at all, but Minseok takes it with a smile anyway.

It smells a lot better than it looks and, once he takes a sip, he discovers that it tastes even better. He kind of understands now why Jongdae would be up so early to make this for breakfast. He still finds really weird that he won't eat anything other than this, though.

“It's pretty good, actually,” Minseok says nonchalantly, his glass already half empty.

“Do you like it?” Jongdae grins without looking at him, too focused on pouring the second smoothie in his glass without making a mess. “It's because I made it with love.”

“Yeah, sure.” Minseok scoffs and laughs, finishing the last of his smoothie and going back into his room to catch some more sleep. Jongdae will clean up the kitchen himself.

  
  
  


Something great about rooming with Jongdae is that he goes out almost every night, and he never comes back until dawn. This means that 1) there is no one making noise in their room when Minseok needs to sleep early, 2) when he doesn’t, he can make as much noise as he wants until early morning, and 3) he can always invite whoever he wants to come over and watch movies, play games, or do literally anything that crosses his mind.

Minseok isn’t sure how Jongdae manages to keep up with his classes with so much going out until early morning, but he stopped worrying a month into their rooming arrangement, when Jongdae’s first test results came back with basically full marks in all subjects. If anything, Minseok is just really jealous. Maybe he should try and enroll for afternoon classes next semester too.

“So, Iron Man?” Baekhyun asks, crumbles of pizza dough flying out of his mouth.

“Again?” Minseok frowns, but looks for the movie in his computer anyway. It isn’t like they’re really going to pay much attention to it — to be honest, they both love it so much they’ve watched it at least 20 times. But it’s a good excuse to be in the company of each other without the need to actually _talk_ , something that Minseok appreciates and something that Baekhyun somewhat respects, at least until he notices something in the movie that he had never noticed before and starts laughing and rambling about weird theories.

In any case, it isn’t like Minseok has anything better to do on a Sunday night than stuffing his face with pepperoni pizza and listening to Baekhyun go on a tangent and talk about that weird guy in his Economics class. But it’s in that exact moment, with Baekhyun choking on pepperoni from talking so fast and Minseok laughing his ass off at the scene in front of him, that a normal, boring Sunday night stops being normal and/or boring and becomes the Turning Point in Minseok’s life, as he will later remember it.

Because in that exact moment, Minseok hears the sound of the door closing over their coughing and laughing noises.

“What’s that corpse smell?”

Minseok freezes, laughter dying immediately deep down inside his throat, and shoots a glance to Baekhyun, who only stares back with a questioning look.

“Um,” Minseok starts, licking the grease off his lips and sending a shy smile to Jongdae. “Sorry, I thought you wouldn’t be back till tomorrow morning.”

Jongdae huffs, not even bothering to answer, and walks across the room and into their shared bathroom.

“What now, you can’t even eat pizza on your own couch?” Baekhyun asks, chuckling as if he couldn’t read the room.

“Shhh,” Minseok hushes him, lowering his voice and whispering closer to Baekhyun, “Jongdae is freakishly sensitive to odors, he hates the smell of meat and—”

“I’m sorry I’m so _freakishly_ sensitive that I notice that dead, rotting flesh smells like death,” comes Jongdae’s snarky voice from inside the bathroom, muffled by the closed door.

Minseok shoots Baekhyun another pointed look, not even trying to explain to him that Jongdae _also_ has extremely good hearing. It’s good enough to make him understand, though, because as soon Jongdae steps out of the bathroom, Baekhyun springs up and bids himself goodbye, not without taking the rest of the pizza with him “for the way, since you can’t keep it anyway.” Right.

Minseok sits still, expecting Jongdae to start a heated argument, or something. He’s surprised by Jongdae sighing and sitting by his side on the couch instead, looking way too sad to be angry.

“Hyung... we talked about this?” Jongdae tries, calmly, sulky eyes avoiding looking in Minseok’s direction. “I thought you were okay with my no-meat rule? I can ask for another roommate if it bothers you so m—”

“No, I’m okay with it!” Minseok rushes to say, and Jongdae squints at him, unsure. “I agreed to it because I’m okay with it. I’m being honest, Jongdae. My diet’s never been better.”

Jongdae snorts and looks away, not taking Minseok seriously.

“I’m being serious! I don’t even have the temptation of sausages and cheese and all that greasy stuff every time I open the fridge. Baekhyun was the one that brought the pizza without asking me, and I didn’t know you were coming back so early,” Minseok explains hurriedly, stammering before continuing, “I don’t even know what you do outside to come so late every night.”

“Okay... let’s just. Forget about it.” Jongdae sighs, avoiding the topic and pursing his lips in thought, and then his happy face is back as if nothing happened, flashing Minseok with the brightest smile. “Hey, do you want to go out with me tonight?”

  
  


Jongdae is a weird roommate, sure, but Minseok wouldn't change him for anyone. He's never met anyone as tidy and organized as Jongdae, perhaps himself being the only exception.

If anything, he's _too_ obsessed with organization. Jongdae hides it as much as he can, but after living together for months, Minseok can't help but notice little details from his character now and then.

Jongdae's staring again at the fruit bowl on their kitchenette counter. His hand hovers for two, three, four seconds, a finger subtly pointing as he counts bananas, mangoes, oranges, before he finally takes a lone ripe kiwi, peels it and throws it into the blender.

He does it every time, with everything on sight. Counting things, whatever they are. Minseok recalls one time when he found Jongdae on his knees on the bathroom floor, wet and naked with a towel around his waist, counting the tiny tiles that make up the shower's walls. There must be several hundreds. He had stopped suddenly, startled by the interruption, and gotten up on his feet, darting out the door with a frustrated sigh that made quite obvious that Jongdae realized how unusual his own behavior was. Minseok had felt really weirded out, but also kind of guilty for not letting him finish. Although, considering how long his showers usually take, he probably counts them everyday.

“Oh, hyung!” Jongdae turns and shoots Minseok a bright smile as he presses the blender's buttons. “What are you doing over there? Do you want another smoothie today?”

“No,” Minseok manages to grumble with a hoarse voice. His brain finally sends his legs the order to move and he walks out of his room and over to the fridge, frowning at how empty the shelves are and ignoring Jongdae’s concerned look.

In hindsight, Minseok shouldn’t have agreed to going out with Jongdae, knowing that he had a 9 AM class to attend. But he was having so much fun that he had decided to ignore his brain’s persistent warnings that it was getting late and it was time for bed. And now, after two short hours of sleep, he’s regretting it _hard_.

“Are you okay, hyung?”

Jongdae’s voice pulls Minseok out of his trance, making him realize he’s been staring at the fridge’s empty content for several minutes, too absorbed in enjoying the way the cold air coming out of it cools his sleep-deprived head. He mindlessly reaches for a yoghurt — if he can’t sleep, he should at least eat something — and closes the door, finding Jongdae’s face closer than he remembered just a moment ago.

He looks so pale.

Correction: Jongdae _always_ looks extremely pale. And with those faint dark circles around his eyes. Does he even sleep? Minseok’s never seen him sleep, although Jongdae spends the mornings alone in their shared room and he always looks full of energy, so he surely finds time for it while Minseok is in class. But when does he study, then, to get such good grades even after going out every night?

“Jongd—Jongdae,” Minseok starts, clearing his dry throat, taking his time figuring out what exactly he wants to ask, “how do you do it?”

“Uh?” Jongdae frowns and looks around, confused. “The smoothies? Do you want a recipe?”

“No Jongdae I don’t want your f—” Minseok stops mid-sentence and takes a deep breath, willing himself to calm down, because deep down he knows that all his irritability comes from his lack of sleep and that hint of a hangover clinging to his temples, not from Jongdae being overly excited about his fucking kale smoothies. “How do you manage to have a social life _and_ good grades without dying? Are you even a normal human being?”

Jongdae’s eyes bulge for the shortest fraction of a second, so briefly that Minseok almost doesn’t see it before a huge, crinkly smile appears on his face, making his eyes disappear in two thin lines. “ _Actually_ , no. I am not.”

Minseok blinks and backtracks, making sure that his ears weren’t tricking him. “Huh?”

“I um,” Jongdae licks his lips, nervously looking around the room. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you.”

Minseok snorts. “Jongdae, I already know you’re gay.”

“Hyung! It’s not that!” Jongdae shrieks. “And I’m not gay!”

Minseok snorts louder. “Sure.”

Jongdae blushes into the slightest pink, breaking the absolute paleness of his skin. “...I’m bi.”

“Whatever.”

“You don’t mind, right?” Jongdae asks, voice unsure. “I mean, you’re open minded and progressive and—”

“And gay,” Minseok interrupts him. “I’m also gay, and no, I obviously don’t mind. And, again, I already knew. You kind of broke my gaydar that time you decided that a mesh shirt and tight ripped jeans were an appropriate outfit for getting wasted in Baekhyun's room. His roommate almost had an aneurysm that day, by the way.”

“His roommate? _‘Perfect Butt’ Sehunnie?_ ” Jongdae asks, launching himself forward. “I didn’t know he—  _Wait_ , this is _not_ what I wanted to tell you!”

“Then what is it? Are you in a cult?” Minseok sighs. “That would explain a lot, actually. All this mysterious coming and going at night—”

“I’m not _in a cult_ , hyung, I’m just a vampire,” Jongdae deadpans, and starts chugging on his humongous kale smoothie, like signaling the end of the conversation.

Minseok blinks, searching Jongdae’s face for any indication that he’s joking, but finds nothing. Just Jongdae staring back from behind his tall glass, raising a daring eyebrow, waiting for Minseok to respond.

“ _What?_ ”

“I’m a vampire,” Jongdae repeats, and licks the dark green moustache that the kale smoothie left on his upper lip.

“You’re a vampire,” Minseok repeats slowly, and frowns. “A vegan vampire.”

“Exactly,” Jongdae grins. “Told you that kale is rich in iron.”

Minseok lets out a nervous cackle and pats Jongdae on the shoulder. “Sure, and I’m a forest fairy.”

He can’t believe he almost fell for Jongdae’s stupid joke. Turning on his heels, he leaves his untouched yoghurt back in the fridge — perhaps best not to try his stomach after last night’s excesses — and leaves for class.

  
  


Minseok forgets about their morning conversation at some point between boring lectures and even more tedious library study hours, but when he comes back to their shared dorm room, many hours later, Jongdae is there, sitting on their couch, looking at Minseok with _very_ unusual puppy eyes.

“Hi, Jongdae,” he sighs, too tired to be overly nice, and beelines towards his room, mindlessly dropping his backpack on the floor and faceplanting on his perfectly made bed.

“We should talk.” Jongdae springs to his feet and follows him, but then stops abruptly right before entering Minseok’s room, standing awkwardly on the threshold. “Um. Can I come in?”

Minseok frowns. “Why wouldn't you? I left the door open for a reason.”

“Is that a yes?”

Minseok lifts his head and turns to look at Jongdae, scoffing. “What do you think?”

“Can you just give me a clear answer, please?” Jongdae insists.

Minseok sighs, peeling himself off the mattress and sitting on the edge, patting the spot right next to him. "Sit down here with me."

“No, you have to say _‘come in’_ for it to work," Jongdae whines.

“Why?”

“Because. I already told you.” Jongdae mutters, still standing right outside the door, and Minseok would find the whole situation extremely funny if it weren’t because he’s particularly tired, and hungover, and also drowning in essays that he hasn’t started writing yet.

“Because you're a _vampire_?” he asks mockingly. “Aren't we roommates though? This is your place too.”

“Um,” Jongdae licks his lips nervously, eyes falling to his feet as he fidgets with the seam of his black t-shirt. “Technically, your room is only yours, while I only have access to my room and the common areas such as the bathroom and the kitchenette and—”

“So you're telling me there's a magical force preventing you from entering my room?” Minseok interrupts him, chuckling. “Wow, and to think that I was worried at the beginning of the semester because my lock didn't work.”

“ _So funny_ , hyung,” Jongdae says sarcastically.

“Okay, okay, come in already,” Minseok concedes with another sigh, and Jongdae rushes through the door as if he were released of an invisible leash, sitting on the bed right next to Minseok.

“Are you mad at me?” Jongdae asks, eyes scanning Minseok’s face. “For not telling you earlier.”

“Am I m— Listen, Jongdae,” Minseok chuckles. “Let’s imagine for one second that I believe you.”

“What?” Jongdae asks, offended. “Why would I tell you that I’m a vampire if it weren’t true? It’s social suicide!”

“You’re a vampire and you’re in college. Right.”

“Yeah, why not?” Jongdae frowns.

“Because a vampire has nothing better to do than attend classes and study for exams,” Minseok says, scoffing. “Sounds realistic.”

“What, I can't pursue an education because I'm a vampire?” Jongdae protests, although he sounds more amused than offended. “Way to stereotype, hyung. Wow. I didn't expect you to be so closed minded.”

“Why are you even calling me hyung anyway?” Minseok muses, conceding for a second in Jongdae’s weird joke. “Aren’t you like a thousand years old?”

“Nope, just got turned last year,” Jongdae replies happily.

Minseok gapes for a second, then closes his mouth again. How Jongdae always manages to leave him out of words, he really doesn’t know.


	2. Chapter 2

Minseok still isn't sure if he's dreaming, he went completely insane after not sleeping for 4 days during last semester's exams week, or he's just being the victim of a really fucked up practical joke that's been running ever since Jongdae moved into their shared room.

He can't be rooming with a _vampire_ . Thinking about the possibility already makes him feel ridiculous. Vampires don't exist. And, even if they did, they wouldn't live like fucking broke college students in a mossy dorm room with a _fucking living human_.

So, after much thought, he decides to catch Jongdae red-handed, expose his lies and stop this madness. And he has a plan.

  


Step 1: Sunlight

As rare as it sounds, people can actually be allergic to the sun, Minseok found out after spending a whole two minutes reading Wikipedia. But it isn't a critical condition, and it's easily preventable avoiding sunlight or using corticoesteroid creams in more severe cases.

Minseok wastes a good amount of his precious sleeping time on a Monday night replacing the content of Jongdae's special imported 100 SPF sunscreen cream with the corticoesteroids he bought from the campus drugstore, carefully cleaning the toilet's sink from any possible evidence, and leaving the sunscreen tube placed in the exact same spot and the exact same position it was before. Professional.

Now he only needs to _wait_. If Jongdae is, indeed, allergic, he won't have any problems. At most, he'll get sunburnt, and a potential higher risk of skin cancer, but hey, he kind of deserves it for trying to fool Minseok with such a ridiculous lie.

If he actually is a vampire... well, Minseok isn't sure what can happen. Nothing serious, probably. Right?

 

Jongdae does get sunburnt the next day, even if the sky is completely covered in dark, grey clouds and it doesn’t stop raining for one second. Minseok laughs at him at first, seeing how Jongdae starts panicking and scratching his skin, but then he has to rush and take his own coat off, throwing it over Jongdae’s head to cover any exposed skin, because he isn’t only getting mildly sunburnt — it actually smells like barbecue.

Or maybe Minseok is just hallucinating from his lack of sleep. Nothing’s been proved yet.

  


Step 2: Mirrors

Every piece of media from the last century says that vampires can’t see their reflection in mirrors, but Jongdae always walks around looking like straight out of a fashion magazine, and Minseok isn’t as dense as to not notice the way Jongdae’s “bed hair” falls over his eyes, calculatedly framing those absurdly sharp cheekbones of his. Or the way his shirts are always _perfectly_ tucked inside his jeans, falling over the seam just enough to look nice and formal but still let the world enjoy a view of That Ass. Not that Minseok purposely _looks_ , he’s just an observant person.

Anyway, Minseok’s a man in a mission, and as such he buys the biggest mirror he can find on Craigslist for less than $20. And not happy with that, he places it in the middle of their shared space, facing the door, and _waits_.

 

Unsurprisingly, Minseok falls asleep on the couch at some point during the waiting process. He realizes this as he peels his puffy eyes open, startled by who knows what weird thing happening inside his dreams, and finds Jongdae looking down at him with a concerned expression.

“Are you okay, hyung? Why aren’t you in your bed?”

Minseok sighs — the mirror is facing in the other direction. So much effort for nothing. Or, actually... “Um. Jongdae. Can you check that you closed the door?”

“Huh?” Jongdae eyes the door and looks back at Minseok, frowning. “I always lock the door after myself, of course it’s closed.”

“No but, just. Double check?” Minseok pulls the most innocent smile he can muster and looks up between his eyelashes, unabashedly trying to be cute. “Do it for me?”

It seems to do the trick, because Jongdae lets out a long sigh but smiles nonetheless. He might have blushed a little too — Minseok isn’t sure, his vision is still kind of blurry.

But not blurry enough to not see Jongdae’s figure clearly reflected in the mirror as he walks towards the door, trying the handle multiple times to no avail, purposely showing Minseok that it’s closed, until he finally _notices_.

“Hyung, did you really think that this sad Ikea mirror was made of silver?” He huffs, pointing at the weird item occupying the center of the room.

“Silver?”

“Yeah, silver. Didn’t you even do proper research?” Jongdae asks, slipping out of his fake-leather jacket and dropping to the couch, forcing Minseok to move and make room for him. “The reason vampires couldn’t see their reflection back in the day was because mirrors were made of silver, and that’s like vampire kryptonite.”

Minseok tries his best to ignore the way their thighs brush from the sudden closeness and sits up, thinking out loud. “Hm...so silver _is_ supposed to hurt you.”

“Yes— wait, you aren’t thinking of putting a silver chain around my neck or anything like that, are you?” Jongdae asks, scandalized, and shifts back closer to Minseok. “Because I’ve heard that hurts like a bitch.”

“Haha, who do you take me for?”

  


Step 3: ~~Silver~~ Garlic

While it’s true that Minseok was happy when management paired them together because they're both Korean, assuming that somehow that would mean less cultural clashing, or something, the reality is that Minseok and Jongdae’s habits are _so_ different they could be from completely different backgrounds.

Minseok never paid much attention to it, but now that He Has A Mission, he can’t help but realize that Jongdae never, _never_ , eats any food with garlic in it.

Because he only eats his goddamn kale smoothies, but that’s another whole conversation.

The point is: Jongdae is _not_ a vampire, and he’s going to be exposed. As of right now. In a minute or less. Probably. When he comes back from the bathroom, and drinks his smoothie, in which Minseok may or may not have slipped a couple garlic cloves when Jongdae was looking away.

But Jongdae comes back from the bathroom, and takes his tall glass of weird green juice, and _pours it down the drain_ without exchanging anything else than a wide, knowing smile.

“Hyung, are you trying to kill me?” He asks, amused, and then explains. “Did you forget that I am _freakishly_ sensitive to odors now?”

“Um. Sorry?” Minseok tries. Jongdae only cackles, digging into the fridge for veggies for a new fresh smoothie.

  


Step 4: Blood

Desperate times require drastic measures. And Minseok is desperate, because he’s really doubting his sanity, as of lately.

In fact, he can’t believe that he’s entertaining the possibility that Jongdae _might_ be a vampire, because that’s the only reason why he would even try what he’s about to do.

Swallowing hard, Minseok steps out of his room, slowly sliding forward as quietly as his pounding heartbeat lets him, and stands behind Jongdae, who’s apparently too engrossed in chopping a mango to notice him.

But then Minseok tightens the grip around the needle in his hand and pierces his fingertip, a tiny drop of blood popping onto his finger, and Jongdae tenses and stills, completely forgetting about the chopping knife in his hold as it drops flat on the countertop.

“Hyung.”

Minseok wants to laugh, because it's funny, the reaction he just pulled out of Jongdae. But his voice sounds tense and tight and somehow _needy_ , and wow, that's new. New, and kind of _terrifying_ , Minseok thinks as he starts to realize the reason behind Jongdae's behavior.

“ _Hyung,_ ” Jongdae repeats, even more desperate, and turns around.

“Jongdae?” Minseok shrieks, his hand suddenly trapped in a tight grip, _too tight_ , Jongdae never exercises, how could he even be this strong when—

“This was a really bad idea, hyung,” Jongdae drawls out, bringing the hand closer to his mouth.

Jongdae licks the finger clean, tongue flat and dragging over the tiny hole in Minseok's skin, so slowly that it almost leaves a lightheaded feeling behind. He closes his eyes, pulling his eyebrows together as he hums and savors the blood in his mouth, and Minseok would have found this whole performance really hot if he weren't in fight or flight mode and fearing for his life.

Jongdae opens his eyes then, and Minseok panics. They look almost predatory, as if he were ready to eat Minseok alive. _And maybe he is._

Minseok lets out a pathetic yelp as he tries, unsuccessfully, to pull his hand out of Jongdae's strong grip. It only makes him lose his balance and end up trapped, Jongdae somehow towering over him and caging him against the kitchenette counter.

“Fuck, hyung,” Jongdae breathes out, stepping closer and brushing the tip of his nose against the side of Minseok neck. Or in other words, against his _artery_. “Why would you do something so irresponsible.”

“Jongdae, please,” Minseok begs, unsuccessfully trying to escape from Jongdae’s reach. “I'm sorry, okay? Please let me go.”

“You’re always tempting me so much, and I try to be strong...” Jongdae lets his tongue lick a strip up the side of Minseok’s neck, his lips slowly following the trail back down towards his collarbone. “But you smell _so good_...”

“Okay, it was dumb, I believe you now, you can stop,” Minseok says desperately. Something rougher than lips, _pointier_ , brushes against his skin and he flinches away, screaming in panic, “Please don't kill me!”

Jongdae snaps out of it immediately.

He takes a step back, staring into Minseok's eyes, swallowing hard. “What? I wouldn't ever kill you. I like you.”

Minseok doesn't find the words to answer, choking on a sob and an incredulous laugh at the same time.

“Oh my god hyung, I'm sorry I scared you. I wasn’t—” Jongdae steps back fully, letting him go, but Minseok just punches his shoulder a bit too hard to be completely playful. “I don't drink blood, you know that!”

“Well I’m not so sure anymore!” Minseok frowns, making himself smaller against the countertop. “Is this what you do outside every night? Drink random people’s blood?”

“I don't go around just killing people, Minseok,” Jongdae deadpans. “I'm a vampire, not a _monster_.”

Minseok raises his eyebrows, and Jongdae stumbles over his words. “Okay maybe those two concepts kind of overlap but—”

“Jongdae, tell me the truth,” Minseok interrupts him.

Jongdae sighs. “There's surveillance cameras everywhere okay? The government has a registry of every fucking citizen, you can't just go around killing people and expect to not get caught, vampire or otherwise!”

“So vampires are scared of getting themselves in jail?” Minseok asks, raising an eyebrow mockingly.

“Also... my master abandoned me,” Jongdae continues, ignoring the question as if he didn’t hear it. “He said I was faulty. Because I don't want to kill people or make anyone suffer. I also get those annoying rashes every time I drink blood—”

Minseok’s eyes bulge at that.

“It was only a few times!” Jongdae rushes to explain with a high pitched yelp. “My master made me, said it would go away when I got used to it!” He sighs and pouts, stealing a glance at Minseok’s expression. “It didn't, just so you know.”

“But you still licked my blood...”

“I can't help it, okay?” Jongdae whines. “You don't know how it is, it smells so _good_... It takes control over my whole body, but I can still think and decide for myself, so don't worry. I won't ever bite you.”

Jongdae finishes his speech with the most heartwarming smile Minseok’s ever seen, and he _almost_ feel bad for his next words.

“Not even if I want you to?”

“...What?”

“Nothing.” Minseok licks his lips and looks away, finally walking away from the countertop and slipping inside his room.

Jongdae squints at his back, the hint of a smirk appearing on his face. “...Hyung?”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated :)


End file.
